Good evening.
In recent weeks, we’ve drawn in many readers from new parts of the Internet. I’ve been wanting to step back from the fast-motion pace of writing and editing this website and tell you a little about who I am, who is here with me, and what we’re doing. I’ve heard from readers what it’s like to arrive here for the first time. A tour guide would be helpful. [Reading it back over, I feel like I could do a bit more on the ‘what we’re doing’ part and also I will do a separate piece about how the site is organized; because unlike most websites we don’t delete, reformat or restructure the past — we leave it so you can go digging like an archeologist.]
So, I’m a freelance writer and I live in upstate New York, two hours north of New York City. That’s the part of the state where people like bears live, various other wildlife and there are far more trees than humans. Planet Waves has long had a triple base of operations: our business office in the United States which is run by Chelsea; our web office in the Ukraine which is run by Anatoly; and wherever I happen to be. Many other people help out significantly, with dangerous tasks like proofreading, database programming, helping me stay organized.
Along my recent journey I’ve made friends in places like Vashon, Vancouver, Black Rock City, Miami, Paris, Amsterdam, London, Krakow. But after more than 10 years of nearly nonstop travel, my land was calling me, the part of the Earth that really first adopted me here in New York. I had a few foster-Earth homes places like Bucks County, PA, where I as a camper at a Quaker summer camp in the 70s had my closest ability to witness girls become women; where I found out I like forests at night.
The Brooklyn seashore also felt great to me: it was reassuring to have the entrance to the ‘world beyond’ lapping at a shoreline one block from where I grew up, in Marine Park. However, though living at the edge of New York City shaped my world view, that was a relatively short stop along the way. The part of the Hudson Valley most commonly known as The Gunks is the first land that truly felt like my family – what I call the Grandmother Land.
I’ve always been a writer. The first ever book-type project I ever made was a booklet and matching matchbook cover, advertising, “How to Become a Pro Football Player at Home in Your Spare Time by Joe Namath.” This was complete with diagrams and instructions. I was about 12.